Tual – Police fired shots Tuesday to disperse battling mobs of Muslims and Christians in a region of eastern Indonesia that has been plagued by religious violence this year. At least four people were killed.

Rioters with knives and bows and arrows set nine houses afire in the village of Cansas on Kei Island, 2,800 kilometers northeast of Jakarta, the Indonesian capital.

On an adjacent island lies Tual, a city in Maluku province, where more than 300 people have died this year in religious fighting. The provincial capital, Ambon, has also been hit hard by the violence.

In Cansas, police and soldiers fired at the rioters after warning shots were ignored. Dozens of Christians and Muslims suffered bullet and knife wounds.

Thousands of people on at least eight islands in Maluku have fled their homes in the last few months because of the unrest, which left dozens of churches and mosques gutted by fire.

Indonesia has endured widespread civil unrest since the downfall last year of President Suharto after 32 years of authoritarian rule.